Extreme Cinema

SYNOPSIS: Chronicling the last days of the life of the social outcast Ricardo Lopez in 1996 as he mails a bomb to Icelandic singer Björk. REVIEW: Ricardo Lopez was a real person, a twenty-one year old man (at the time of his death) who was born in Uruguay, then grew up in Georgia before settling in Florida. He worked as …

SYNOPSIS: Filmmaker Frederick Wiseman exposes conditions at a Massachusetts hospital for the criminally insane. REVIEW: Frederick Wiseman is a highly accomplished documentarian, with over 40 films to his credit (and still counting). His approach is very much a “fly on the wall” method, where he steps back and out of the way and just films, capturing as close to …

SYNOPSIS: Bimba’s mother has just been murdered mysteriously and the family is holding a seance to contact her spirit. As soon as the mystic finds her spirit things go crazy REVIEW: A group of people gather in the family castle for a séance, hoping to contact Andrea’s (Enzo Fisichella) recently deceased wife, Daniela. The medium (Elisa Mainardi, who is more …

SYNOPSIS: Young director Marko, after several unsuccessful attempts to shoot his first feature film, makes an acquaintance with a p*rn director Cane and starts making films with him, showing his anger towards the society he lives in. After the conflict with Cane he starts his own p*rn cabaret club in which the socio-political shows are frequently performed. He gathers p*rn …

SYNOPSIS: By the time of Android of Notre Dame, the fifth installment in the Guinea Pig Series, any mondo factualization of the fictional has disappeared. Instead, we have a typical cyberpunk narrative as if focalized through the fevered imagination of Manfred Clynes who posited in the 1960s that the body would become redundant at the interface of new cybernetic technologies. …

SYNOPSIS: A rookie cop starts her shift like any other but soon it will all change for the worse. A derelict with a reputation of satanic violence, attacks the officer and collars her with a dog leash which is just the start of his abusive ritual. REVIEW: If you’ve seen anything by writer/director Ryan Nicholson (for example, maybe Live Feed, …

SYNOPSIS: Bizarre rituals, animals being killed, and people being killed and eaten by each other and animals REVIEW: Savage Man Savage Beast, aka Zumbalah, aka Ultime Grida Dalla Savana, aka Savage Temptation, aka The Great Hunting, aka (simply and appropriately) Deathshow, is one of the more influential early “shockumentary” films. Seen as a nature documentary in which the cyclical food …

SYNOPSIS: When the daughter of a politician suddenly disappears, her step-mother investigates the porno industry in search of her. REVIEW: Snuff Trap (aka Snuff Killer – La Morte in Diretta) is one of the later films of Italian writer/director Bruno Mattei (this time working under the pseudonym Pierre Le Blanc), released in 2003. After arguing a bit with her mother, …

SYNOPSIS: The inner workings of a p*rn theater exposes a love triangle between a cashier, her interested boy toy, and an elderly gay gentleman. REVIEW: Glowing Eyes: La Chatte a Deux Tetes (The Pussy With Two Heads) is an interesting film. Directed by Jacques Nolot, who also cast himself as the elderly gay gentleman in the synopsis, Glowing Eyes is a French …

SYNOPSIS: Did you ever wonder how far one movie could go? Schizophreniac relentlessly explores the world of the extreme with Harry Russo. Harry is an aggravated writer, killer, and drug addict scumbag who will stop at nothing to destroy those who stand between him and insanity… There are only a few hundred copies left so get yours while you can. …

SYNOPSIS: Coming back from her bachelor party in Las Vegas, Christine and her friends are driving through the hot desert of Nevada. But they are not alone – serial killer Max Seed is back and he brought the whole family. REVIEW: When you sit down to watch Seed 2 (aka Seed 2: The New Breed or Blood Valley: Seed’s Revenge), …

SYNOPSIS: Linda is a student from a well-off family and her parents have high expectations and put a lot of pressure on her to succeed. Too high pressure and expectations cause some rebellion in the young woman, however, and lead by her friend Linda drifts into the dark and twisted world of Satan’s worship – To the clutches of charismatic …

SYNOPSIS: 80 years ago, the diabolical Dr. Victor Wolffenstein wanted nothing more than to be immortal. His tireless quest led him to create a vaccine that did just that, but also infected his body with a flesh-rotting form of necrosis. As the Doctor’s limbs literally fell apart, he tried to replace them by using the crudely removed arms and legs …

SYNOPSIS: Belcebu, legendary rock star, builds up his drug empire until the Devil offers him eternal life. REVIEW: Made in Spain and distributed by Troma Team Video worldwide, Belcebu: Tomame, soy tu Puta del Infierno (translated to Belcebu: Take me, I’m Your Whore From Hell, which is certainly an interesting title) very much fits the mold for something that is distributed …

SYNOPSIS: A deranged man (that suffers from horrible nightmares) escapes from a mental hospital and goes on a bloody rampage. REVIEW: I have a friend that is quite the horror buff that saw Nightmare (AKA Nightmares in a Damaged Brain) at a drive-in theater when he was younger and it scared the living hell out of him. He said that …

SYNOPSIS: 2 years have passed since the terrible events in the exitus house. Sophie, the sister of the dead monique, suffers from the fact that the body of her sister has never been found. Together with her friend Lena, she makes her own research and discovers a terrible secret in the former murder house! REVIEW: Exitus Interruptus II: House of …

SYNOPSIS: Rome is shattered by a series of gruesome murders that paint the Eternal City deep red. The suspicion grows that these atrocious crimes are connected with the return of one of the most heinous serial killers of our time – Karl the Butcher. REVIEW: And now, for a new entry into the “I did not see that coming” category …

SYNOPSIS: A group of criminals kidnap a woman for ransom, hoping for a big payday. Unfortunately, they discover that crime doesn’t pay. REVIEW: Brutal is from director Filip Chalatsis, and is a Greek horror film. This, by itself, was interesting to me, because I can’t for the life of me think of another Greek horror film I’ve ever seen. I love …

SYNOPSIS: This documentary chronicles the life and art of Bob Flanagan, who was diagnosed with the disease cystic fibrosis. Director Kirby Dick examines how Flanagan began routinely maiming his own body to deal with and overcome the acute physical pain he felt every day. Flanagan’s self-torturing habits are the basis for his avant-garde live performances, which are featured prominently in …

SYNOPSIS: Mauricio Beccar Varela is now the president of Argentina, this means the triumph of a savage and oppressive capitalism, which reaches unsuspected extremes of torture, but the anarchists always be there to meet them, perhaps using the same methods questionable REVIEW: Picking up right where 2005’s Sadomaster left off, German Magarinos’ 2011 film, Sadomaster Locura General (aka Sadomaster Total …

SYNOPSIS: A group of friends stumble onto the killing grounds of a cannibalistic loner who then mercilessly stalks down the party, one-by-one. When only a small group remains, they decide to take a stand against the murderer and fight for their lives. REVIEW: German director/gorehound Andreas Schnaas is at it again, this time paying homage to a legend in the …